If a victory over UCLA was supposed to provide a turning point to its season, USC never got the memo Thursday night.

Instead, facing Washington State provided a letdown as the Trojans were anything but impressive against the Cougars before rallying for a 72-68 victory at the Galen Center.

Maybe a letdown was expected because the Trojans are not considered to be a good team. But they played so well against UCLA it teased observers into thinking a lot more was possible.

"We didn't make it easy but we hung in there," USC interim coach Bob Cantu said. "(Guard) J.T. Terrell hit some big shots. Our rebounding was tremendous. Our guys stayed the course. That was a great win for us."

A lot more will probably be necessary Sunday against Washington, which narrowly lost to the Bruins on Thursday night.

USC guard Byron Wesley led the Trojans with 20 points and eight rebounds. Point guard Jio Fontan had 10 points and 11 assists despite being weakened by the flu. Perhaps the Trojans were a little flat after getting a week off since playing UCLA last Wednesday.

"It was a week of rest and trying to clean some things up," Cantu said. "Every win is big and we needed this one."

The Trojans led 51-50 with 6:30 remaining after Wesley made two free throws, but the Cougars responded as D.J. Shelton made a free throw to tie the score. Wesley scored again to give USC a 53-51 advantage that gave Wesley 17 points at that point.

Terrell then broke a 53-53 tie with a 3-pointer with 5:23 left, his third 3-point shot of the game. Terrell, who had a strong second half, then scored on a layup to give the Trojans their biggest lead of the game to that point, 58-53.

But Terrell fouled out with more than three minutes remaining and that robbed the Trojans of a primary offensive threat.

Cantu warned the Trojans about Washington State but it did not matter.Or maybe it was just two below-average teams facing each other. Still, the Trojans should have played better after the flashes of brilliance they showed against UCLA.

"Washington State's played a lot of people really close," Cantu said. "Their record is not indicative of the type of team that they are. They were really tough for us to handle tonight."

The Trojans (10-13, 5-5) showed little energy the final 10 minutes of the first half or the first 10 minutes of the second half. But Terrell provided offense and that allowed the Trojans to overcome their lethargy.

Wesley made six of his first nine shots and scored 13 points in the first 30 minutes.

Washington State (11-12, 2-8) led 33-30 at halftime as the Cougars committed just three turnovers. DaVonte Lacy led the Cougars with 21 points while Mike Ladd added 16.